STEVE Taylor wasted no time in tuning into some dramatic changes when he took the helm at GMR just a little over 12 months ago.

His interference spread through the BBC station's Oxford Road base like a whirlwind, as some of its best-known faces were shown the door.

But if there were those at the station who felt Taylor had wielded the axe a little too far, the latest figures from radio industry ratings device, Rajar, reveal that Taylor's clean sweep has brought GMR the best listening figures in its 32-year history. GMR's audience share figure of 8.5 per cent was the best since the station was formed as Radio Manchester in 1970, while the average number of hours each listener tunes in for was a "stunning" 13 hours per week - 2.6 hours better than GMR's best ever.

Taylor is unsurprisingly frank about what needed to be done when he arrived at GMR from BBC Radio Lancashire, where he managed a similar success story over a much more drawn-out seven years - eventually putting the station ahead of any local rival. Not bad for a man who previously had no experience of radio station management, having worked his way into the role through positions as a newspaper reporter, radio reporter, radio news editor and regional radio correspondent before becoming managing editor at Radio Lancashire.

He explained: "To say that the station needed 'turning around' is perhaps a little too strong. But it hadn't really punched its weight. It was certainly my brief to change that.

Audience

"The thing we had to do was really know the audience we were trying to broadcast to. If you'd asked the staff who their audience was two years ago, they would have said 'anyone who is prepared to listen'.

"The station was ready to make changes. As I live near Ramsbottom and because I have worked here in the past I was familiar with the output. I had some pretty clear ideas of what I wanted to change. The question is how quickly do you change them?"

In this case, the answer to that question was incredibly quickly. "I wasn't going to take seven years about it this time," Taylor adds. "I didn't sack anybody but I decided not to renew some contracts."

The "new look" GMR boasts what Taylor obviously sees as a winning formula - although not everything has run entirely smoothly.

Mike Kiddey was replaced by Mark Edwardson, a perfect partner for breakfast show co-host Heather Stott - until she announced that she was emigrating to Australia. Her place will be filled next month by former Manchester DJ Michelle Mullane.

Oxberry

A major coup was persuading North West Tonight TV weather girl Diane Oxberry to host an early afternoon show boasting lively music, chat and personalities.

Taylor, 52, who says his listeners are likely to be older than him, recognises that his success comes at the expense of commercial rivals.

But he understands the tough task that they are having in the face of an advertising downturn.

He points out that he himself spent five years managing cuts at Radio Lancashire before Greg Dyke took office as director general of the BBC and fresh investment began to make its way to the local radio.

Exclusivity

But then he has faced pressure from those same rivals - GMR is currently prevented from live coverage of Manchester United games by an exclusivity deal with 105.4Century FM.

Taylor adds: "I think all the music stations have a bigger problem than we have, because their listeners are being nibbled away by the small stations such as Tower FM.

"We can lose out to some of the smaller stations which try and offer local news services. How we compete with that is that we try and make sure that we cover all of Greater Manchester and report it all the time.

"There isn't anybody else who does what GMR does. There isn't another talk based news and sport station that also entertains with good music and great guests.

"At our best our listeners believe that they own this radio station. They believe it's for them."